Orioles 2013 Draft Outlook – 1st Round Prospects

The most important part about the 2013 MLB Draft may be that the Orioles are not picking in the top ten. WHOOO!!!!!! The 3 day, 40 round event kick off Thursday evening as it goes head to head with game 1 of the NBA finals.

The Orioles do have the 22nd pick and a depleted farm system so they need to make the most of their pick even though it’s later in the round than they are used to selecting. So just for fun we are going to look at a few names that may come off the board and into Baltimore on Thursday night.

ALEX BALOG – RHP, SAN FRANCISCO

A big boy at 6’6 225, Balog comes from a good program that could see 3 pitchers go in the first 2 rounds. Along with his size comes a big time plus fastball often clocked in the mid 90’s. The knock on him is that his other pitches may not develop. He has a decent slider and change up for the college level but those are pitches that will have to keep getting better if he wants to develop into a starter and stay out of the bullpen down the road.

JOSH HART – OF, PARKVIEW HS

If the Orioles take Hart at 22 it will be for the upside and not what he is now. Scouts say that Hart’s speed and glove are clear major league tools but there are questions as to whether or not his bat will ever come around. Taking High School position players is always risky because they skip an entire level of pitching by not going to college and normally take longer to develop. With all that being said, the Orioles have been trying to build up team speed recently and that is the one major tool this kid has.

AUSTIN WILSON – OF, STANFORD

If by chance Wilson falls to 22 that could be a steal for the O’s. Another big boy at 6’4 245, scouts say he is the kind of athlete that could steal 15-20 bags every year. He is a big kid but his swing needs work, although he has shown power to all fields. More so than in any other sports draft, for baseball you have to project, and how could you not get get excited about a youngster who is that big and brings multiple tools to the table.

There are a lot of names that come up when you research mock drafts for baseball because there are so many rounds, but these were the 3 that kept coming up. If I were a betting man I would say the Orioles are going to take Balog if he is there at 22. This is still an organization that believes in growing its own arms and going out and finding the bats. If Balog isn’t there another name that could be called is Connor Jones, the Gatorade POY in the state of Virginia at Great Bridge High School in Hampton Roads. That would be pretty cool since he is from the DMV. Whatever the O’s choose to do I have pretty good faith with the way they have drafted over the past few seasons, because in case no one has noticed Manny Machado is really really good and so is Kevin Gausman.

About the Author

Bill Thompson played college baseball at UVA Wise and currently coaches baseball at Battlefield High School in Haymarket. As a die-hard O's fan, he covers the Orioles and the Redskins here at Blog So Hard.